October 22

The fate of Lille, the Manchester of France, had been graphically described by a newspaper correspondent who had been in the town on the night of October 13.

The most wealthy business quarter had been burned down with two principal roads destroyed. He had seen all the buildings in St Maurice's Churchyard on fire and the flames were threatening the ancient church itself.

Two firemen appeared to have been killed by shells while fighting the flames. An immense quarter between the railway station and the Town Hall had been destroyed, among the buildings burned down being the Grand Hotel, the Lycee Fenelon and the Café Bulens.

In the streets seriously afflicted by the bombardment and the fire, immense sheets of flame could be seen rising from the different floors.

At intervals one could hear and see houses falling in. The Germans had entered Lille on October 13 at 10 o'clock in the morning after several days' fighting. The first German shell had fallen in the town on October 10th, and the bombardment had continued during the 11th and 12th.

Shells had literally rained in different directions, causing fires involving terrible loss to the inhabitants who had taken refuge in the cellars.

50 years ago

“All nursing is demanding,” said Lady James (wife of Lord James, Vice-Chancellor of York University) to nurses at their annual prize-giving ceremony.

“But in some ways mental nursing is the most demanding of all. Through the courage, vision and patience of people like you, people in need are able to be helped.”

Lady James said that mental nursing was developing through new therapeutic techniques, and through new conceptions of its place in the community.

There was still a long way to go, firstly in diagnosis and treatment and secondly in re-thinking relationships between the patient and his family, the hospital and the community. But there had been one big step forward.

The stigma which had formerly been attached to the words “mental illness” had practically disappeared.

25 years ago

Britain's first Braille railway station map had been unveiled in York.

Blind travellers could now independently find their way around the city station.

The tactile station plan told them how to get to the ticket office, lifts, lavatories, footbridge, platforms and other facilities. The map would be bolted to a wall near the entrance.

It had been unveiled by the Lord Mayor, Councillor Jack Archer, assisted by Mrs June Ward, who was herself blind and office administrator of York and District Voluntary Society for the Visually Handicapped. She praised the introduction of the map, the first of its kind on the British Rail network.